Joe Satriani, ‘A Door Into Summer’ – Song Review

Instrumental rock guitar maestro (and Chickenfoot guitarist) Joe Satriani is releasing a new album titled 'Unstoppable Momentum' on May 7, and from the sound of its first single, 'A Door Into Summer,' it's going to be a classic slice of what he does best.

'A Door Into Summer' kicks off with a moody pipe organ chord before launching into a heavy main riff that's so accessible, it sounds like it could have been the basis of a late-'80s Winger song. Satriani uses a bright tone for a melody line over the top of that for the verse, which shows him in his restrained, the-guitar-is-singing-the-song approach that characterized past Satriani classics like 'Always With Me, Always With You.'

But at the two-minute mark he departs dramatically from that for a lengthy shredding solo that employs an artful combination of speed chops, tone and unusual phrasing before settling into a cool twin-guitar harmony line that takes the song back to the main riff.

It's nice to see Satriani adhering so doggedly to the kind of style that serves his talents best, instead of attempting to adapt to a changing marketplace by altering his approach. That's bound not to please everyone -- for instance, if you're one of those people who think that instrumental guitar music is just a bunch of meaningless, egocentric wankery, well, you're probably still gonna think that after listening to 'A Door Into Summer.'

But for fans of Satriani's past work, there ought to be more than enough of a balance between straight composition and showy guitar chops here to spark your interest.